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ZTL Map

Where is the best and most up-to-date ZTL map in Italy? Is there old fashion fold-out map I can order? I'm picking up my car from MXP then driving to Modena, Bologna, and Monterosso. (Will be heading over to Côte d'Azur and Monaco, without ZTL.)

I have used google map and enter the name of the city + "ZTL". How current and accurate is this method?

I have got some online PDF maps from some city's tourist office.

Any other sources?

I don't plan on driving or parking inside ZTL. Just want to get close enough and park outside.

The rules can change at any moment because they are set by local town councils. Before you think it is ridiculous, it is normal political process where some business owners might appeal to local government to remove a ZTL from their block, while another group might have just successfully won an appeal to create a pedestrian zone near a school or something.

Your first line of defense is to learn to recognize the most common form of ZTL sign. You can find many pictures of it on the web.

However, also recognize that in some cities (like Bologna), the ZTL area might be indicated by an electronic sign that reveals which hours and which cars are covered during a certain period of time.

Unless you are very swift in deciphering Italian, you need to contact your hotel or lodging owner and ask them for specific assistence in helping you avoid ZTLS on your approach and to reach your lodgings or the nearest parking lot.

As for daytripping with your car, it is sometimes a fairly good bet to (a) follow signs to the train station, where you will usually find parking or (b) get a CURRENT Michelin map or Red Guide, which usually shows with the letter "P" where public parking is located outside what is visibly (on the map) the walled medieval city. Even though Bologna and Modena have lost their walls, you can tell by looking at a map where they once were located, and which parking lots are outside and which are inside.

However, you still must watch the road signs and when you see one that is classically the sign that indicates a ZTL, you need to keep out of it short of causing an accident to do so. If you do feel you may have inadvertantly entered a ZTL, tell your hotel right away or tell the first police officer you see, and ask for advice. You might be able to persuade local officials to note your license number and prevent a ticket working its way through the system.

Or use the trains for day trips between towns like Modena and Bologna.

Unless I am very mistaken, there are areas of the Cote d'Azur that are pedestrianized or are restricted to general auto traffic at certain times of day. I don't know what they are called and I don't know if they are monitored by video cameras or what kinds of signs are posted to indicate them, but the antique cores of many towns along the southern French coast that I have visited were car-free, so beware.

I have had luck in some cases by just googling the city along with ZTL. In many cases, I have found a map indicating the ZTL limitations/area. I however do not always trust the map as being up to date and the previus poster provided sage advice. As said, knowing, understanding and recognizing the signage is critical and most valuable.

greg, you can't have it both ways: Complain that signs are positioned "too high" but also complain a truck or bus might block the sight of one at eye level. I actually think the sign that you think is "too high" is dramatically noticeable and the ZTL sign is plainly in view.

Something to understand about many ZTLs is that they are off limits to non-residents but residents have passes and drive through them all the time. So residents driving behind you don't necessarily expect you to stop.

In most localities in Italy it is against the law for drivers to honk at other drivers except to signal danger. Other drivers might yell at you or gesture if they feel you are blocking their way, but not honk.

There is a lot of resentment from visitors about ZTL's who think this is an irrational system being targeted at foreigners to profit off their mistakes, but it isn't the case. The system is meant to discourage both Italians and foreigners from driving into historic areas where car traffic creates a lot of problems, and if you don't get the point that driving in the historic centers is being heavily discouraged and do it anyway, a big fine will be levied so you get the point and spread the word. It has nothing to do with gotcha.

We once followed a bus into a ZTL in Bologna. The bus blocked our view of the sign, but fortunately for us, it must have also shielded us from the camera, because the expected fine never arrived.

We prefer to travel between cities by train. Not only do we avoid the ZTLs, but we don't have the hassle of finding a place to park the car. The train is also, on most routes, both cheaper (for two people) and faster than driving.

There was an article in our local newspaper a few years ago about a nurse who got a new job at a hospital (in Rimini, I think). She drove blissfully unaware through a ZTL twice a day for several months before the first fine arrived, by which time she had accrued about €2000 in fines. So you can see that they aren't just traps for tourists.

You can almost always find a map by googling "mappa ZTL [city name]". Small towns don't usually have ZTL maps, but you should just park outside the walls and walk in when visiting a small town. A city's public transportation agency web page is more likely to have ZTL maps than the tourist office is.

A nation-wide map would be impossible, because virtually every city and most small towns have ZTLs.

The only official ZTL maps can be found on each city council (comune) web page. They may not easy to find and to read because you do not need only the map but also the instructions that may be several pages long - at what times ZTL is enforced, who is extempted and at what conditions, and so on.

Fines cannot be issued if zones are not marked with signs, so you will be always find signs in the form of an access prohibition (red circle, white inside) with some explanation. If you cannot decipher the explanations (and it may be difficult also for locals) you should assume you are not authorized and do not pass the signal. If you pass such a signal you do at your own risk.

In some cases you have to access a ZTL, say to reach an hotel. In these cases always ask in advance what you should do and your exact itinerary, and stick to it without improvising.

I would observe that in most cases ZTLs are open only to actual residents inside the zone, some services, public transportation and taxis, emergency cars and handcapped people. But you may live 1 km. from it and never get an access permission. And get fined if you enter.

Not sure you want a car for the cities you've chosen unless you are spending a lot of time in the countryside around these cities. You will also incur a large drop off fee in France (picking up in one country and dropping in another is expensive).

Most towns have their own maps you can download. This one for Florence (from their Tourism Board) includes the bus lanes too (as mentioned by bvlenci).

This one is more interactive, click the + by Mobilita and you will get a choice of things to appear on the map. Autovelox = cameras (there are cameras in Italy that aren't ZTL such as speed). Aree ZTL = restricted center area. Varchi ZTL + ZTL edge/entry. Soste& parcheggi = Parking. You will have to zoom in on the map to see it a little better. If you look at the parking, there is one on via Fratelli Rosselli which is outside the ZTL, but on the tram line (click linea travia) into the train station area.

If you are staying in hotels within any cities with ZTL, you need to check the actual rules for that. Some allow only entry to get to your hotel and drop your luggage. They might not allow daily comings and goings if you are planning to do a lot of day trips a hotel within ZTL. ZTL access can also change by time of day or day of the week so you must know those rules too.

Here are some road signs and you can click on others on the list at the side.

We have signs for various infractions where I live and I don't try to get maps to figure out where they are, I just try to be an alert driver and know what they look like. There are signs in other parts of Europe about pedestrian only area or areas where cars aren't allowed, also.

Every single one of those 3 signs Greg posted look perfectly okay to me. The first one doesn't look any higher than many traffic signals, and you can easily see the others when you go by them SLOWLY which is what you should be doing on narrow urban streets like that. That is what inner urban areas of old cities look like, they have to post them somewhere and all of those are visible. People just want to make excuses for breaking the law.

As asps on Jul 4, 14 at 8:52am says you will always find signs indicating access prohibited at ZTLs and at any other street where you cannot drive. It is a round white board with a red border. Don't bother trying to read any small print under the sign. Just don't go there.

As said by others you are probably much better off by taking trains rather than driving in Italy if your only objective is the cities. Driving and parking in European cities is madness. Italian cities are among the worse, as indicated by the fact that most credit card insurance coverage is not provided in Italy. If you plan to amble about the countryside then a car will serve you well.